Shivers for Christmas (45 page)

‘Your papers, gentlemen.'

Everyone hastened to comply with this command. Wilfred, however, who stood beside the stove, was seized with an unfortunate fit of trembling, and when the police-officer lifted his eye from the paper in order to take a side glance at him, he discovered him in the act of slipping the watch into his boot. The officer struck his comrade on the thigh, and said to him in a joking tone—

‘Ha, it seems that we trouble this gentleman!'

At these words Wilfred, to the surprise of all, fell fainting. He sank into a chair, white as death, and Madoc, the chief of the police, coolly drew forth the watch, with a harsh laugh. When he had looked at it, however, he became grave, and turning to his followers—

‘Let no one leave,' he cried, in a terrible voice. ‘We will take all of them. This is the watch of the citizen, Daniel van den Berg. Attention! Bring the handcuffs.'

The word made our blood run cold, and terror seized on us all. As for me, I slipped under a bench near the wall, and as the officers were engaged in securing poor old Brêmer, his sons, Henry, and Wilfred, who sobbed and entreated, I felt a little hand rest on my neck. It was the pretty hand of Annette, and I pressed it to my lips in a farewell kiss. She took hold of of me by the ear, and led me gently, gently. At the bottom of the table I saw the flap of the cellar open. I slipped through it, and the flap closed above me.

All this took but a moment, while all around was in an uproar.

In my retreat I heard a great stamping, then all was still. My poor friends had gone. Mother Gredel Dick, left standing alone upon the threshold, was uttering some peacock-like cries, declaring that the Pied-de-Mouton had lost its good name.

I leave you to imagine what were my reflections during that day, squatted down behind a cask, cross-legged, my feet under me, thinking that if a dog should come down, or if the innkeeper should take it into her head to come to fill a flask of wine, if a cask should run out and it was necessary to tap another—that any one of these things might ruin me.

All these thoughts and a thousand others passed through my brain. In my mind's eye I already saw old Brêmer, Wilfred, Karl, Ludwig, and Bertha hanging from a gibbet, surrounded by a crowd of ravens, who glutted themselves on them. My hair stood on end at the picture.

Annette, no less anxious than myself, in her fear took care to close the cellar-flap every time she went in and out, and I heard the old dame say to her—

‘Leave that flap alone. Are you foolish, that you bother so much about it?'

So the door remained half-open, and from the deep shadow in which I was I saw fresh revellers gather around the tables. I heard their cries, their disputes, and no end of accounts of the terrible band of criminals. The scoundrels!' said one. Thank heaven, they are caught. What a pest have they been to Heidelberg! One dared not walk in the streets after six o'clock. Business was interrupted. However, it is all over now. In five days everything will be put in order again.'

‘You see those musicians from the Black Forest,' cried another, ‘are all a lot of scoundrels. They make their way into houses pretending that they come to play. They look around, examine the locks, the chests, the cupboards, the ins and outs, and some fine morning the master of the house is found in his bed with his throat cut, his wife has been murdered, his children strangled, the whole place ransacked from top to bottom, the barn burnt down or something of that kind. What wretches they are! They ought to be put to death without any mercy, and then we should have some peace.'

‘All the town will go to see them hanged,' said Mother Gredel. It will be one of the best days in my life.'

‘Do you know, if it had not been for the watch of the citizen Daniel they would never have been discovered. The watch disappeared last night, and this morning Daniel gave notice of its loss to the police. In one hour after, Madoc laid his hand on the whole gang—ha! ha! ha!' and all the room rang with their laughter, while I trembled with shame, rage, and fear by turns.

At last night came, and only a few drinkers sat at the table. The people of the inn had been up late the night before, and I heard the fat mistress gape and say—

‘Ah, heavens! when shall we be able to go to bed?'

Only one light remained in the room.

‘Go to sleep, mistress,' said the sweet voice of Annette. ‘I can see very well to all that is wanted until these gentlemen go.'

The topers took the hint, and all left save one, who remained drowsily before his glass.

The watchman at length came round, looked in, woke the man up, and I heard him go out grumbling and reeling till he came to the door.

‘Now,' said I to myself, ‘that is the last. Things have gone well. Mother Gredel will go to sleep, and little Annette will come to let me out.'

While this pleasant thought passed through my mind I stretched my cramped limbs, when I heard the old innkeeper say—

‘Annette, shut up, and do not forget to bar the door. I am going into the cellar.'

It seemed that such was her custom, in order to see all was right.

‘The cask is not empty.' stammered Annette, ‘there is no necessity for you to go down.'

‘Look after your own business,' said the old woman, and I saw the light of her candle as she began to descend.

I had only time to place myself again behind the barrel. The woman, bent down under the low roof of the cellar, went about from one cask to another, and I heard her say—

‘Ah, the jade! How she lets the wine drip from the taps! Look! look! I must teach her how to turn a tap better. Did one ever see such a thing! Did one ever see the like!'

Her light threw deep shadows on the damp wall. I drew myself closer and closer.

All of a sudden, when I was imagining that the woman's visit was ended, I heard her sigh—a sigh so deep, so mournful, that I thought something extraordinary must have happened. I raised my head just the least bit, and what did I see? Dame Gredel Dick, her mouth open, her eyes almost out of her head, looking at the foot of the barrel behind which I lay still as a mouse. She had seen one of my feet under the woodwork on which the barrel rested, and she imagined, no doubt, that she had discovered the very chief of the assassins lying hid there in order to throttle her in the night. I at once resolved what to do. Standing up, I said to her—

‘Madam, in heaven's name, have pity on me. I am—' But then, without looking at me, without listening to me, she began to utter her peacock-like cries, cries to stun you, while she began to rush out of the cellar as fast as her extreme stoutness would let her. I was seized with terror, and taking hold of her dress, I threw myself on my knees. That seemed to make matters worse.

‘Help! Murder! Oh, heaven! let me go. Take my money. Oh, oh!'

It was terrible.

‘Madam,' said I, ‘look at me. I am not what you take me for.'

Bah! she was foolish with fright. She raved and bawled in such a shrill voice that if she had been under the earth all the neighbourhood must have been aroused. In such a strait, becoming angry, I pulled her back, jumped before her to the door and shut it in her face with a noise like thunder, fastening the bolt. During the struggle her light had gone out. Dame Gredel remained in the dark, and her voice was now only heard feebly as if far off.

Exhausted, breathless, I looked at Annette, whose trouble equalled mine. We could not speak, and we listened to the cries as they died away, The poor woman had fainted.

‘Oh, Kaspar!' said Annette then, taking my hands in hers, ‘what shall we do? Save yourself, save yourself. Someone has perhaps heard the noise. Have you killed her?'

‘Killed? Me?'

‘Ah well. Run. I will open the door,'

She drew the bolt, and I ran off down the street without so much as even waiting to thank her. How ungrateful! But I was so afraid. The danger was so near.

The sky was black. It was an abominable night, not a star to be seen, not a ray of light, and the wind, and the snow! I ran on for at least half an hour before I stopped to take breath, and then imagine how surprised I was when, on lifting up my eyes, I saw, just in front of me, the Pied-de-Mouton. In my fright I must have run round the neighbourhood; perhaps I had gone round and round. My legs felt heavy, were covered with mud, and my knees shook.

The inn, which had been deserted an hour before, was now as lively as a bee-hive. Lights gleamed from every window. No doubt the place was full of police-officers. Wretched as I was, worn out with cold and hunger, desperate, not knowing where to hide my head, I took the strangest course of all.

‘Well,' said I, ‘one can but die after all, and one may as well be hanged as leave one's bones in the fields on the way to the Black Forest.' And I went into the inn to give myself up.

Besides the sour-looking fellows in battered hats, whom I had seen in the morning, and who went and came, ferreted about, and looked everywhere, before a table sat the chief magistrate Zimmer, clothed in black, solemn, with a piercing eye, and by him was his secretary Roth, with his brown periwig, his wise look, and his great eyes big as oyster-shells. No one paid any attention to me, a circumstance which changed my resolution. I sat down in one of the corners of the room, by the great oven, in company with two or three neighbours who had come to see what was going on, and asked in a calm voice for half-a-pint of wine and for something to eat.

Annette was near ruining me.

‘Heavens,' she cried, ‘is it possible!'

But an exclamation or two amidst such a clatter did not signify. No one noticed it. Having eaten with a good appetite, I listened to the examination of Mother Gredel, who sat in a large chair, her hair all ruffled, and her eyes still wide open with fright.

‘What age did the man appear to be?' asked the magistrate.

‘About forty or fifty. He was a tremendous man, with black or brown whiskers, I cannot say exactly which. He had a big nose and green eyes.'

‘Was there nothing peculiar about his appearance—any blotches or wounds on his face?'

‘No. I do not remember any. He had a big mallet and pistols.'

‘Very well, and what did he say?'

‘He took hold of me by the throat. Happily I cried out so loudly that I frightened him, and then I defended myself with my nails. Ah! when one is about to be murdered, how one can defend oneself?'

‘Nothing is more natural, madam, nothing more legitimate. Write that down, M. Roth. The coolness of this good woman has been really wonderful.'

So the deposition went on.

After that they examined Annette, who simply said that she had been so frightened that she really did not notice anything.

‘That is enough,' said the magistrate. ‘If we require further information we will come again tomorrow.'

All went away, and I asked Mother Gredel to let me have a room for the night. She had not the slightest recollection of me—so much had fear distracted her brain.

‘Annette,' she said, ‘show the gentleman to the little green room on the third floor. For me, I cannot stand on my feet. Oh heaven! What strange things happen in this world!'

Annette, having lit a candle, led me to the room, and when we were alone together she said to me—

‘Ah Kaspar, Kaspar! I should never have believed it of you! I shall never forgive myself for having loved a robber!'

‘What, Annette,' cried I, sitting down, despairingly, ‘you too! Ah, you have given me the last blow!'

I could have burst into tears, but she saw the wrong she had done me, and, putting her arms around me, said—

‘No, no! You do not belong to them. You are too gentle for that, my dear Kaspar. But it is strange—you must have a daring spirit to come here again!'

I explained to her that I was near dying of cold outside, and that that had decided me. We remained some minutes in deep thought, and then she went off for fear Mother Gredel would be after her. When I was alone, having looked out to see that no wall ran near my window, and having examined the bolt on my door, I gave thanks to heaven for having delivered me from so many perils. Then I got into bed, and fell into a deep sleep.

The next morning I was up at eight o'clock. The day was dull and misty. When I drew my bedcurtains, I saw that the snow was heaped up upon the window-sill, and that the panes were all frosted. I began to think sorrowfully about my friends. Had they suffered from the cold? How would Bertha and old Brêmer get on? The thought of their trouble grieved me at my heart.

As I was thinking, a strange noise rose outside. It approached the inn, and it was not without some fear that I took my place at a window in order to see what it was.

They were bringing the band of supposed robbers to the inn, in order that they might be confronted with Mother Gredel, who was too unwell, after her terrible fright, to go out. My poor comrades came down the muddy street between two files of police-officers, followed by a crowd of lads, howling and whistling like very savages. I can even now see that picture. Poor Brêmer, handcuffed to his son Ludwig; then Karl and Wilfred together; lastly, Bertha, who came by herself, crying in a pitiable manner—

‘In heaven's name, gentlemen, in heaven's name, have pity on a poor innocent player on the harp! Fancy me killing, robbing! Oh, heaven, can it be!'

She wrung her hands. The others were sad, their heads bowed down, their hair hanging over their faces.

All the folk in the place congregated in the alley around the inn. The police put all strangers out of it, and shut the door, and the crowd waited eagerly without, standing in the mud, flattening noses against the window-panes.

The greatest stillness reigned in the house, and having dressed myself I opened the door of my room to listen, and to see if I could not learn how matters were going. I heard voices of men as they went and came on the lower landings, which assured me that all the passages were guarded. My door opened on the landing just opposite to the window through which the murderer had fled. I had not before noticed it, but as I stood there, all of a sudden, I perceived that the window was open, that there was no snow upon the sill, and when I came near I saw new traces upon the wall. I shivered when I saw them. The man had been there again! Did he come every night? The cat, the polecat, the ferret, all preying animals, have their one path on which they prey. What a discovery! A mysterious light seemed to illumine my soul.